Obama's Final Rally

So, I walk in to the 7th grade humanities classroom to observe a lesson. The room is quiet, a video is playing and she is working the room. She stops and explains the video occasionally, and here are the questions I remember her asking the students and having them write down -

Where is he right now?
What did he promise?
How did he feel that morning?
List three things that made his day bad.
What is the message or lesson that he wants us to understand?

She says that CST testing will begin soon, that they are professional students, that no matter how tired we may all feel, essentially, we need to bring it. She asks the students the last question again and there were several variations, but essentially they all got it -

One voice can change the world.

We never know the impact of what we do - she continues. And this is what I loved: she concludes by saying that occasionally she will call out these words and expect a response. I'm in there too, so I join in. We practice.

Fired up? Fired up!
Ready to go? Ready to go!

Fired up? Fired up!
Ready to go? Ready to go!

This was the lesson I observed right before I delivered my demo lesson and I'm so glad it was! I felt fired up. I felt ready to go. Believe it - I will be using this with my kids because we all need a rally at this point. This is also my way of explaining, that that day went very well.

happiness, no matter

Montezuma
Cortes

Atahualpa
Pizarro

I'm loving history class lately. World civilizations.

I was too busy to enjoy teaching history the first two years because, well, I was busy with grad school and the steep learning curve of it all - the craft of teaching, the English content and the years and years of HISTORY that I had left in some dark corner of the basement that is my mind.

Last summer I made a trip to Ecuador and Peru with Vanessa and Monique.

We stayed in a beautiful hacienda by a volcano near a town called Banos in Ecuador. We hiked through the cloud forest, bathed with the locals in the hot springs, fell in love with tree tomatoes. Met native Ecuadorians that were expert weavers and anthropologists - ethnographers of their own people and culture. I bought a small purple keychain from them. I loved this part the most - being in the Ecuadorian countryside.

Then we went to Peru. Medication in hand for the sudden elevation shift. We spent time in the ancient city of Cuzco surrounded by massive stones everywhere. Sketched Saksaywaman - I remember the blue sky, the white clouds, the grey stones zig zagging in the foreground. We hiked for four days and camped in a small valley one night, there was a small river. It was below freezing. We were headed towards Macchu Picchu. We made it there early in the dark, so that we could see the sun rise.

My students families are mainly from Central America or South America. And so, I feel this heavy responsibility to not only bring to life the incredible civilizations of Mesoamerica but to really have them walk away from class full of questions, uncertainties, wonder, awe and sadness.

The Spanish defeat of the Aztecs and Incas is a California standard.

Robert shared with me a clip from the documentary "Guns, Germs and Steel" - a National Geographic film based on the work of Jared Diamond, a UCLA professor. Over the weekend I read the first two chapters of Zinn's "A People's History of the United States".

Suddenly, the gravity of what happened to the Inca Civilization hit me. Maybe more than the sight of Macchu Picchu revealing herself as the sun appeared and filled it with light. The massacre and devastation of an entire civilization -- through guns, germs and steel. And greed.

So tomorrow I will introduce our inquiry into the Aztec and Inca Civilization. Its been on my mind for a week and I'm nervous I won't do justice to it. I think my students will rise to the occasion. I think they will be able to decide for themselves and form their own opinion about this history. Specifically -

Was the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca Civilization exploration or exploitation?